#39 Dr. Emir Hrnjic - The future of digital payments & FinTech industry

Futures Voices

What is culture shock? For some of us it is going to an exotic country. Yet for Emir Hrnjic, the biggest culture shock was moving from one part of his hometown of Sarajevo, where he dodged shells and sniper fire, to another, considered “free territory”. With a promise of a scholarship to study in Malaysia, in 1994 he escaped besieged Sarajevo via a hand dug tunnel under the airport better known as the "tunnel of saviour". He embarked on a global journey, with a thirst for knowledge and eagerness to take advantage of the opportunity he was given. He completed his Bachelor of Business at the International Islamic University, graduating best in his class. He then obtained a Ph.D. in Finance from Tulane University, New Orleans, USA in 2005. He has held research & teaching positions at Tulane University, Virginia Tech University, and National University of Singapore and has been a visiting scholar at the University of Maryland and University of Southern California (USC). Since 2007, Dr. Hrnjic has been associated with the National University of Singapore, Business School and also served as CEO of CIBFM (a training arm of Monetary Authority of Brunei Darussalam). His case studies are widely used at the top universities such as Harvard, Stanford, and Yale, while his commentaries are sought by major media outlets such as BBC, Bloomberg, and CNA. Dr. Hrnjic is an expert in litigation, hedge fund and FinTech consulting. Since 2020 he is also the Head of FinTech Training and a Senior Research Fellow at the Asian Institute of Digital Finance (AIDF). With over 1400 registered companies, Singapore has seen an explosion in the FinTech sector and Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Dr. Hrnjic is helping educate the future leaders of the industry. Not bad at all for a young man who escaped the madness of war to get an education.